Sisters Folk Festival rolls into town

All-event passes for the Sisters Folk Festival may be sold out, but there are still plenty of opportunities to enjoy some of the outstanding music the festival has been bringing to town each September since 1995.

Sunday tickets are still available - and though that's the third day of the festival, there's still plenty of music to enjoy. Many of the festival's premier performers are on the schedule for Sunday.

"It's a great deal for the price and the value you get from the music," said SFF Creative Director Brad Tisdel.

There are also several free offerings through the weekend. The Fir Street Park venue is open to the public Saturday and Sunday, and the Sunday-morning community show at the Village Green stage is also free and open to the public, though space is limited.

For Tisdel, creating a sense of community is the high point of the festival -"weeklong events and coming together of a community and Sisters and everything we, as a nonprofit, bring to the community... (The three-day festival) is the capstone to building a community through music and the arts."

The festival is, in fact, much more than a nationally renowned three-day party. Sisters Folk Festival Inc. supports and promotes several education outreach programs, including the Americana Project and a guitar- and ukulele-building program in local schools. The organization is closely tied with Sisters' vibrant visual arts community. Artists donate work for a fundraising art auction in the spring that is itself a highly regarded community cultural event.

And the weeklong run-up to the festival includes a much-loved songwriting camp held at Caldera on Blue Lake, where festival artists and patrons work together to hone the craft of songwriting and tap the well of inspiration.

The weekend's festival incorporates many Sisters dining establishments as intimate venues for the music. Tisdel said he is excited to bring Sisters Saloon back as a venue this year. With a renovated patio area and a new stage, it promises to be a lively spot for music on Friday and Saturday nights.

This year marks the return of festival standout Ruthie Foster. Legendary guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson will play one set at Sisters Art Works on Saturday night.

The festival is following its usual path of bringing in long-established and beloved artists as well as up-and-coming musicians who quickly build a passionate following.

The Americans are the kind of pioneering young band the festival enjoys introducing to the Sisters audience. The Americans perform original rock & roll with deep roots in traditional American music. The legendary T Bone Burnett places them in the forefront of a new generation of artists who are working in a tradition - and pushing its boundaries.

"The Americans are part of this group, these genius 21st-century musicians that are reinventing American heritage music for this century. And it sounds even better this century."

That's actually a pretty accurate description of what the festival seeks to do in all of its offerings, according to long-time board member and co-founder Jim Cornelius.

"American music is maybe our greatest cultural legacy," he said. "People from all around the world have brought their music to these shores and it all mashes up together and creates something new, something that shifts and evolves all the time. It's a beautiful thing, and it happens right here in Sisters every year."

This year, SFF has introduced an app to help patrons navigate their way around the Festival. With the app you can make up your own schedule, check out the venues, venue performers, track the shuttle and more. Search for Sisters Folk Festival in your app store.

For ticket information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.sistersfolkfestival.org.